Survivors of Haiti’s earthquake demand tents in front of the Haitian government’s temporary offices before Bill Clinton, now UN special envoy for Haiti, visits in Port-au-Prince on Friday.

F ormer U.S. President Bill Clinton was met by angry crowds Friday protesting the slow arrival of aid to Haitians left destitute by a huge earthquake as he sought to unblock distribution bottlenecks.

“Our children are burning in the sun. We have a right to tents. We have a right to shelter,” said Mentor Natacha, 30, a mother of two.

The protesters said they hoped to meet Clinton, who was designated Wednesday as co-ordinator of international aid for the impoverished Caribbean nation by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

Clinton said he understood the frustrations, adding he also wanted to understand why more than three weeks after the Jan. 12 quake, aid was still not getting through to desperate Haitians.

“I’m trying to get to what the bottlenecks are. Part of it is just shipping the volume of food in here that is necessary,” Clinton told reporters as he visited a clinic in the ruined capital of Port-au-Prince.

The other problem was the distances between the 16 main distribution points, he said.

When Clinton earlier visited the government’s de facto headquarters in a police building in the city, about 200 people demonstrated outside to protest the lack of shelter.

There have been persistent problems in getting aid to the more than one million Haitians left homeless after the 7.0-magnitude quake, which levelled much of Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

Asked about his role in the country, Clinton said: “What I don’t want to be is the governor of Haiti.

“I want to build the capacity of the country to chart its own course. They can trust me not to be a neocolonialist, I’m too old.”

He stressed he was not there to intervene in the case of 10 American Christians detained on child kidnapping charges for trying to smuggle 33 Haitian children across the border into the Dominican Republic.

The five men and five women were charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy by Haitian prosecutors on Thursday. The group has denied ill intent.

Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez have a lunch meeting outside the Fontainebleau Hotel

Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez have a lunch meeting outside the Fontainebleau Hotel.

Beginning Of The End: Sarah Palin Hijacks The Tea Party Movement

The tea party movement is dead. The one I was familiar with anyway. Judson Phillips held it down and Sarah Palin drove a stakeright through its heart live last night on C-Span in front of an unsuspecting audience.

Sarah Palin didn’t give a tea party speech last night. She gave a partisan Republican address. It was a purelypolitical speech designed to position her for a presidential run in 2012 or 2016. Period. She wasn’t there to celebrate the organic nature of a movement she had nothing to do with creating. She was there to co-opt the name and claim the brand as hers. And she did.

The movement, that came to be officially recognized almost a year ago but whose roots go back further than that, has been snuffed out and replaced in the public mind. The movement that began as a people’s movement of angry independent, libertarians and conservatives will now be thought as the movement of people like Palin, Dick Armey, Judson Phillips, Mark Skoda, etc. Essentially, a wholly owned subsidiary of the “Official Conservative Movement” and the Republican Party.

This new tea party bears no resemblance to the one that began a year ago as a reaction to the collapse of our financial system and the subsequent bailout. That movement of ragtag and unorganized libertarians, independents and conservatives was something new and unique. An authentic protest movement angered not just by the new President, Barack Obama, who had presided over the bailouts but the president who started the ball rolling and whose incompetence had led to the crisis in the first place, George W. Bush. read entire article

Tennis player Venus Williams attends the launch of New Tide Plus Febreze Freshness Sport at The Recreation Deck at The W South Beach on February 5, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida

Tennis Player Serena Williams (L) and singer Kelly Rowland attend the launch of New Tide Plus Febreze Freshness Sport at The Recreation Deck at The W South Beach on February 5, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida.

(L-R) Tennis player Venus Williams, actress Gabrielle Union and singer Kelly Rowland attend the launch of New Tide Plus Febreze Freshness Sport at The Recreation Deck at The W South Beach on February 5, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida.

NFL player Terrell Owens attends the launch of New Tide Plus Febreze Freshness Sport at The Recreation Deck at The W South Beach on February 5, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida

Tennis player Venus Williams attends the launch of New Tide Plus Febreze Freshness Sport at The Recreation Deck at The W South Beach on February 5, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida.

Singer Kelly Rowland (L) and tennis player Venus Williams

Tennis player Venus Williams (L) and DJ Solange Knowles

NFL players Ryan Grant and Cory Mayes

L-R) NFL players Vontae Davis and Vernon Davis

NFL player Terrell Owens

DJ Irie spins at the launch of New Tide Plus Febreze Freshness Sport at The Recreation Deck at The W South Beach on February 5, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida.

New Healthcare Bill is “trickery” written to benefit the Insurance Corporations…taxpayers “forced” to purchase Insurance Policies.

Reporting from Washington – Attempting to rouse a party shaken by electoral setbacks, President Obama told fellow Democrats on Saturday that he would press ahead with his healthcare proposal and other pieces of his ambitious agenda, rejecting suggestions that a more cautious approach might minimize losses in the upcoming midterm elections.

Obama, who left the White House during a blizzard, sought to rally Democratic National Committee members in a speech that was part pep talk and part prescription for what the party must do to overcome problems culminating in the loss of the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Democratic icon Edward M. Kennedy.

Trimming goals and postponing hard choices are the wrong approach, the president said.

In an emotional high point of his 20-minute address, Obama conceded that the public wonders whether elected officials can overcome the immense power of lobbyists and special interests and "confront the real problems that touch their lives."

He said: "So just in case there’s any confusion out there, let me be clear. I am not going to walk away from health insurance reform. I’m not going to walk away from the American people. I’m not going to walk away from this challenge. I’m not going to walk away from any challenge. We’re moving forward."

His voice rising, he added, "We are moving forward!"

The snowstorm disrupted the DNC’s winter meeting, with some delegates unable to attend because of flight cancellations and sporadic subway service. Not even the presidential motorcade was spared. During the five-minute drive to the event a few blocks from the White House, a black ambulance lost control on snow-covered streets and veered into an SUV carrying reporters. No one was hurt.

As the motorcade returned to the White House, a tree branch weighted down by snow snapped off and fell on top of a Chrysler SUV carrying a group of photographers. Obama, who often portrays himself as a hardened Chicagoan immune to Washington’s comparatively tepid winter weather, paid full respect to the storm, labeling it "snowmaggedon."

Obama’s appearance came at a time when the party’s core membership is demoralized. With the president’s poll numbers dropping, some Democratic congressional campaigns are weighing whether to distance themselves from Obama in the run-up to the midterm elections in November.

The party’s leadership has become a target. Steven Ybarra, a former DNC member from Sacramento, said in an interview: "The DNC is a disaster. Have we seen the chairman of the DNC [Tim Kaine] on any of the Sunday programs talking about how the party is going to react to any of this? Does anybody know who the chairman of the Democratic National Committee is?"

Ybarra said Obama should install as the head of the DNC his 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe.

Roberto Prats, a DNC member from Puerto Rico who attended the conference, said, "The mood is one of shock." He said members have found it tough to digest the loss of Kennedy’s seat to Republican Scott Brown. Brown was sworn in to the Senate days ago, depriving Democrats of a supermajority that the president had counted on for passage of his agenda.

In this worrisome environment, Obama tried to rally the party by saying it was no time to abandon the bold agenda charted at the beginning of his administration. He did not specify how he intended to advance a healthcare bill that is stalled in Congress. But he said it must pass.

"Yes, we could continue to ignore the growing burden of the runaway cost of healthcare," said Obama, wearing a suit jacket but no tie. "The easiest thing to do right now would be to just say, ‘Ah, this is too hard. Let’s just regroup and lick our wounds and try to hang on.’

Grown ASS Men and Women act like Children while the Politicians, Bankers and Wall Street Brokers STEAL the Country Blind!!

  The United States is Bankrupt but President Obama’s spending Freeze exempts the “Military Industrial Complex”….currently the United States of America has 700 Military Bases in 130 Countries and 2 Wars with no real end in sight. U.S. Taxpayers foot the bill for a Military Budget  in excess of $1 TRILLION Dollars with no oversight,  while the unemployment rate rises, citizens beg for Healthcare and the foreclosure rates skyrocket!! It’s time to STOP being Children and deal with Adult Issues like the run away Debits and out of control Government and never ending Wars that YOU the Taxpayer  Pays for!!!     Wake up!!

Regardless of what people are saying about Taylor Swift’s Grammy performance, she happens to be one of the biggest stars in pop country — and she might find herself with a hip-hop career before she knows it. At least Drake is game for a collaboration.

"Seeing Taylor Swift in person is always fun for me," the rapper told "Extra" on Sunday. "I bought this Taylor Swift T-shirt the other day that I might wear tonight."

While Drake didn’t end up wearing any Swift merch onstage for his performance of "Forever," alongside Eminem, Lil Wayne and Travis Barker, he is willing to show his fandom in other ways. "I just have this small little thing with her; I just like her whole being. I’m excited about her career," he said, adding he’d like to get into the studio with her. "That would be nice, I’m down!"

Swift has already dabbled in hip-hop. Who could forget T-Swizzle’s memorable "Thug Life" duet with T-Pain at the CMT Awards last year?

And long before she and Kanye West had a more, er, complicated relationship, Swift shared with MTV News that she wouldn’t mind hitting the studio with him. "I’d like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration," she said. "I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun! You know, I love Kanye West and I love T.I. — he’s amazing."

iPhones, Twitter, green-screen technology, BlackBerries, Facebook … and hip-hop acts. Those are some things that were not around for the recording of the original "We Are the World" in 1985.

Stars including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and dozens more — even actor Dan Aykroyd — joined in for the superstar collective. They created a great song — one that to date has raised and distributed more than $63 million to 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in emergency relief and development projects. Granted, at the time, hip-hop was in its early days. But Run-DMC, the Fat Boys, Whodini and Kurtis Blow were certainly worthy of getting the call.

However, hip-hop was definitely in the building on Monday night, when Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie united the stars again for "We Are the World — 25 for Haiti," which will benefit earthquake relief in the country through the newly created We Are the World Foundation. Lil Wayne, Kanye West, T-Pain, Wyclef Jean, Kid Cudi, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Drake, Bizzy Bone, Nipsey Hussle, Busta Rhymes and Swizz Beatz were all on hand, with more artists lined up to be added later.

"Everything was dealing with the 21st century," Jones said about the large hip-hop contingent. "That’s the way you go. All you gotta do is wake up. Let’s hear ‘em! Young, old whatever."

"As hip-hop artists, we’re the voice of the young generation," Nipsey said. "So it’s very important we speak our opinion and give our feeling as to what’s going on in Haiti and contribute our celebrity and voices to the disaster. It’s necessary."

"It was great because we all make music, in one way or another," R&B singer Anthony Hamilton said about performing with rappers. "It was a great surprise. It was great to see Lil Wayne, Kanye and [everyone else] in the room doing something. Everyone was focused on one goal: to make a difference. Rap makes a lot of noise. It brings a lot of attention. It’s a powerful form of music. People are watching. It will influence somebody."

"What’s going on inside, I feel like a kid in a candy store," Wyclef Jean said. "Between the younger artists and older artists getting together, I feel that this new version of ‘We are the World’ … When you have a classic, you don’t wanna touch it. But, being that we grew up with that record and we love it so much, it’s incredible to see every kid, every genre coming in and singing that song."

"I think we all turned to groupies," Hamilton added. "Everybody had a camera out and was filming. Even Tony Bennett had a handheld and was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Lil Wayne.’ I’m serious! It was so powerful."

Wayne is actually singing Bob Dylan’s famous part on the new version of the song.

"I was like, ‘You guys are real good comedians,’ " Wayne laughed when telling reporters about his assignment. "After I did Bob Dylan’s part, it kind of hit me that I guess this is way more important than I could ever imagine."

"We are harmonizing with one another," Bizzy said about the recording process. "A bunch of artists in the same room with no ego. It’s captivated in just this emotion and feeling of what they are telling us to produce and put forward. We have Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion and a few others who are doing the solo things — that’s leading the way for us because they are still who they are [and we're] the hip-hop generation and the young ones. We’re being guided by the same generation that started it from the beginning.

"We all already knew the song," Bizzy added. "Everybody knows ‘We Are the World.’ It’s bringing it to another level. It’s showing the other young ones — our little 7 year olds, our 10 year olds, on and so — what it actually means with the disaster in Haiti."

Rising Atlanta rapper Waka Flocka Flame, also known simply as Waka Flocka, is recovering from gunshot wounds in an attempted robbery on Tuesday. The shooting occurred in broad daylight around 1:30 p.m. as at the Bubble Bath Car Wash on Old National Highway in College Park.

Waka Flocka, whose real name is Juaqin Malphurs, was approached by an unknown assailant demanding jewelry. When Malphurs refused to comply, a fight ensued followed by gunshots. Mulphers was shot in the arm. The suspect fled the scene.

Mulphers is originally from Queens, NY and moved to Atlanta as a child with his family, including brother and fellow rapper, Wooh Da Kid. Both are affiliated with rapper Gucci Mane’s So Icey Entertainment. (A representative from So Icey, who wished to remain anonymous, declined to comment for this article.)

According to ajc.com, police in the metro Atlanta area are looking for a black male approximately 22 years old with an assortment of facial tattoos including a dollar sign on his left cheek and a series of circles and squares between his eyebrows.

Mulphurs official MySpace page bio describes the artist’s mentorship by Gucci Mane, his admiration for “drug dealers and ballplayers,” and comparison of himself and labelmates to gangsta rap pioneers, N.W.A.

Listening Party for NeYo’s New Song and Alfani’s New Line

R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo attends the listening party for NeYo’s New Song and Alfani’s New Line at Simyone Lounge on February 1, 2010 in New York City.

R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo (C) poses with models wearing Alfani at the listening party for NeYo’s New Song and Alfani’s New Line at Simyone Lounge on February 1, 2010 in New York City.

A general view of atmosphere at the listening party for NeYo’s New Song and Alfani’s New Line at Simyone Lounge on February 1, 2010 in New York City.

R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo and Good Day New York anchor Greg Kelly attend the listening party for NeYo’s New Song and Alfani’s New Line at Simyone Lounge on February 1, 2010 in New York City.

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106th and Park…MICHAEL VICK in da Building!!! Feb 2nd 2010
National Football League player Michael Vick visits BET 106 & Park at BET Studios on February 2, 2010 in New York City
National Football League player Michael Vick visits BET 106 & Park at BET Studios on February 2, 2010 in New York City.

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MEDINA MONEY BOMB SITE
Volunteers with Debra Medina’s campaign for governor are setting off a “money bomb” on Tuesday aiming to raise a large amount of money from a lot of small donors on a single day.

This event is pegged to the Feb. 2 anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War in 1848.

Organizer Anthony Reed, a city council member in Haltom City near Fort Worth, said that date marked a key moment in history for Texas sovereignty, a central message in Medina’s campaign.

“People like to see what they can do together as a team,” said Reed, adding that the goal is to get more than 1,000 donations Tuesday.

Medina’s previous money bombs — on Oct. 2 and Dec. 29 — brought in about $20,000 on each of those days, which were the top fund-raising dates for the campaign, finance records show.

Before midnight, and within four hours of the end of the January 29, 2010 Texas Gubernatorial GOP candidate debate, unscientific Internet and television station polls, facebook friend increases, and chats show early indications of Debra Medina as gaining the most ground.

Medina’s official facebook page count increased by 444 additional friends between 9 a.m. and midnight the day of this second and last Republican debate prior to the March 2, 2010 primary vote.
Perry’s facebook friend increase was 72. Hutchinson’s site count was raised by 65.

Non-scientific polls, on-line or text input, from those who chose to participate revealed these results (as of midnight):

Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and most insiders dismissed Medina’s campaign for most of 2009.

In July last year, Medina barely had 900 facebook supporters. Six months later Medina had increased her count ten times over.

Many Texans and political analysts were surprised after the first debate when a Rasmussen Report poll released on January 18 revealed a swing with likely Texas Republican voters in Debra Medina’s favor. The poll found these standings:

• Perry – 43 percent
• Hutchison – 33 percent
• Medina – 12 percent
• Not sure – 11 percent

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101 reasons to support Ron Paul.

If you want to know why Israelis support Ron Paul read Ron Paul is NOT anti-Semitic and The Financial Expert supports Ron Paul: Why a policy of non intervention is good for the U.S Israel and the rest of the world

1. Paul’s stance on foreign policy is one of consistent nonintervention which avoids war of aggression and entangling alliances with other nations.

2. Paul advocates bringing troops home from U.S. military bases in Korea, Japan, and Europe, among others.

3. Ron Paul proposes that the U.S. stop sending massive, unaccountable foreign aid.

4. Paul was the only 2008 Republican presidential candidate to have objected to and voted against the Iraq War Resolution and continues to oppose U.S. presence in Iraq, charging the government with using the War on Terror to curtail civil liberties.

5. He believes a just declaration of war after the September 11, 2001, attacks should have been directed against the actual terrorists, Al-Qaeda, rather than against Iraq, which has not been linked to the attacks.

6. In 2003, Paul said that when America seeks war, it must be sought only to protect citizens, it must be declared by the U.S. Congress, and it must be concluded when the victory is complete as previously planned, which would allow all resources to be dedicated to victory.

7. During Israel’s 2009 war on the Gaza Strip, Paul addressed Congress to voice his staunch opposition to the House’s proposed resolution supporting Israel’s actions. He stated: “Madame Speaker, I strongly oppose H. Res. 34, which was rushed to the floor with almost no prior notice and without consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution clearly takes one side in a conflict that has nothing to do with the United States or US interests. I am concerned that the weapons currently being used by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza are made in America and paid for by American taxpayers.”

8. Paul rejects the “dangerous military confrontation approaching with Iran and supported by many in leadership on both sides of the aisle.” He claims the current circumstances with Iran mirror those under which the Iraq War began, and has urged Congress not to authorize war with Iran.

9. In 2000, Paul voted to end trade restrictions on Cuba.

10. Paul advocates withdrawing U.S. participation and funding from organizations he believes override American sovereignty, such as the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the Law of the Sea Treaty, the WTO, NATO, and the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.

11. Ron Paul enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for liberty in politics today.

12. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency.

13. He is known among both his colleagues in Congress and his constituents for his consistent voting record in the House of Representatives.

14. Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution.

15. He served on the House Banking committee, where he was a strong advocate for sound monetary policy and an outspoken critic of the Federal Reserve’s inflationary measures.

16. He was a key member of the Gold Commission, advocating a return to a gold standard.

17. Dr. Paul consistently voted to lower or abolish federal taxes, spending, and regulation, and used his House seat to actively promote the return of government to its proper constitutional levels

18. On the Financial Services Committee, advocates a dramatic reduction in the size of the federal government and a return to constitutional principles.

19. Dr. Paul’s consistent voting personifies the Founding Fathers’ ideal of the citizen-statesman. He makes it clear that his principles will never be compromised, and they never are.

20. He is among few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles.

21. Paul is a proponent of free trade and rejects protectionism, advocating “conducting open trade, travel, communication, and diplomacy with other nations.” He opposes many free trade agreements, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), stating that “free-trade agreements are really managed trade” and serve special interests and big business, not citizens.

22. He voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), holding that it increased the size of government, eroded U.S. sovereignty, and was unconstitutional.

23. He has voted against the Australia–U.S. FTA, the U.S.–Singapore FTA, and the U.S.–Chile FTA, and voted to withdraw from the WTO because he believes that “fast track” powers, given by Congress to the President to devise and negotiate FTAs on the country’s behalf, are unconstitutional, and that Congress, rather than the executive branch, should construct FTAs.

24. Paul also has an 83% voting record in favor of free trade in the House of Representatives, according to Global Trade Watch.

25. Paul considers it a “boondoggle” for the U.S. to spend much money policing other countries’ borders (such as the Iraq–Syria border) while leaving its own borders porous and unpatrolled;

26. Paul, calling the September 11, 2001, attacks an act of “air piracy,” introduced the Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001. Letters of marque and reprisal, authorized by article I, section 8 of the Constitution, would have targeted specific terrorist suspects, instead of invoking war against a foreign state.

27. Paul believes the size of federal government must be decreased substantially. In order to restrict the federal government to its Constitutionally authorized functions,

28. Paul regularly votes against almost all proposals for new government spending, initiatives, or taxes, often opposed by a heavy majority of his colleagues.

29. Paul would substantially reduce the government’s role in individual lives and in the functions of foreign and domestic states;

30. He would eliminate many federal government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Internal Revenue Service.

31. Paul would severely reduce the role of the Central Intelligence Agency; reducing its functions to intelligence-gathering. He would eliminate operations like overthrowing foreign governments and assassinations.

32. He supports abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service, most Cabinet departments, and the Federal Reserve.

33. In February 2009, he joined with Democratic congressman Harry Mitchell of Arizona to call for an end to automatic Congressional pay increases, through a proposed amendment to the economic stimulus package.

34. He would completely eliminate the income tax by shrinking the size and scope of government to its Constitutional limits.

35. He has never voted to approve an unbalanced budget.

36. He has asserted that Congress had no power to impose a direct income tax and supports the repeal of the sixteenth amendment.

37. Paul has signed a pledge not to raise taxes or create new taxes, given by Americans for Tax Freedom.

38. Paul has also been an advocate of employee-owned corporations. In 1999, he co-sponsored The Employee Ownership Act of 1999, which would have created a new type of that would have been exempt from most federal income taxes.

39. John Berthoud, president of the National Taxpayers Union, an organization that promotes lower tax rates, has said, “Ron Paul has always proven himself to be a leader in the fight for taxpayer rights and fiscal responsibility …. No one can match his record on behalf of taxpayers.” Paul has been called a “Taxpayer’s Friend” by Berthoud’s organization every year since he returned to Congress in 1996, scoring an average percentage of 100%/.

40. National Federation of Independent Business president Jack Farris has said, “Paul is a true friend of small business…. He is committed to a pro-small-business agenda of affordable health insurance, lower taxes, tort reform, and the elimination of burdensome mandates.”

41. Paul has stated: “I agree on getting rid of the IRS, but I want to replace it with nothing, not another tax.

42. Paul’s opposition to the Federal Reserve is supported by the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, which holds that instead of containing inflation, the Federal Reserve, in theory and in practice, is responsible for causing inflation.

43. He believes that economic volatility is decreased when the free market determines interest rates and money supply.

44. Paul adheres deeply to Austrian school economics and libertarian criticism of fractional-reserve banking, opposing fiat currency and the inflation thereof.

45. He has written six books on economic subjects, has pictures of classical liberal economists Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises hanging on his office wall, and is a distinguished counselor to the Mises Institute.

46. Paul opposes inflation as an underhanded form of taxation, because it takes value away from the money that individuals hold without having to directly tax them. He sees the creation of the Federal Reserve, and its ability to “print money out of thin air” without commodity backing, as responsible for eroding the value of money.

47. In 1982, Paul was the prime mover in the creation of the U.S. Gold Commission, and in many public speeches Paul has voiced concern over the dominance of the current banking system and called for the return to a commodity-backed currency through a gradual reintroduction of hard currency, including both gold and silver.

48. He condemns the role of the Federal Reserve and the national debt in creating inflation.

49. On multiple occasions in congressional hearings, he has sharply challenged two different chairmen of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke.

50. He called for the removal of all taxes on gold transaction and has repeatedly introduced the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act since 1999, to enable “America to return to the type of monetary system envisioned by our Nation’s founders: one where the value of money is consistent because it is tied to a commodity such as gold”;

51. Paul strongly supports legalization of parallel currencies, such as gold-backed notes issued from private markets and digital gold currencies. He would like gold-backed notes and digital gold currencies to compete on a level playing field with Federal Reserve Notes, allowing individuals a choice whether to use sound money or to continue using fiat money

52. He has committed himself for over 30 years to educating Americans in libertarian economic principles, such as eliminating the Federal Reserve Board, a private-public banking entity.

53. Paul has many times confronted Congress with a bill to audit the Federal Reserve Board, which the majority of Congress finally supports.

54. To stem the Social Security crisis and meet the commitment to elderly citizens who depend on it, he requires that Congress cut down on spending, reassess monetary and spending policies, and stop borrowing heavily from foreign investors, such as those in China, who hold U.S. Treasury bonds. Paul believes young Americans should be able to opt out of the system if they would like not to pay Social Security taxes, in order to protect the system.

55. Ron Paul endorses defederalization of the health care system.

56. He has an opposition to virtually all federal interference with the market process.

57. Paul was one of only three members of Congress that voted against the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: it “imposes costly new regulations on the financial services industry [that] are damaging American capital markets by providing an incentive for small US firms and foreign firms to deregister from US stock exchanges

58. Paul favors ending the United States Post Office legal monopoly on first class mail delivery by legalizing private competition.

59. Paul argued against the $700 billion bailout proposal to purchase toxic debt during the economic crisis of 2008. His vote was among the majority of “nay” votes cast to defeat the initial measure in the U.S. House of Representatives the House passed a second version of the bill, against which Paul voted a second time, later in the week.

60. Paul has consistently advocated that the federal government not be involved in citizens’ everyday lives.

61. He believes the internet should be free from government regulation and taxation, and is opposed to internet restrictions.

62. The only 2008 presidential candidate to earn Gun Owners of America’s A+ rating, Paul has been a lead sponsor of legislation in Congress attempting to restore individual Second Amendment rights.

63. Paul believes that juries deserve the status of tribunals, and that jurors have the right to judge the law as well as the facts of the case.

64. Paul broke with his party by voting against the Patriot Act in 2001; he also voted against its 2005 enactment.

65. Paul voted against the REAL ID Act of 2005, an Act to create federal identification-card standards, which has been challenged as violating the Constitutional separation of powers doctrine, and other civil liberties.

66. Paul has spoken against the domestic surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency on American citizens. He believes the role of government is to protect American citizens’ privacy, not violate it. He has signed the American Freedom Agenda pledge not to violate Americans’ rights through domestic wiretapping and to renounce autonomous presidential signing statements, which rely on unitary executive theory.

67. Paul is strongly opposed to reintroducing the draft. In 2002, he authored and introduced a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives expressing that reinstatement of a draft would be unnecessary and detrimental to individual liberties. In the 110th Congress, he has proposed a bill which would end Selective Service registration.

68. Paul opposes eminent domain. He wishes to “stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches.”

69. Paul has stated he doesn’t want to interfere in the free association of two individuals in a social, sexual, and religious sense. Additionally, when asked if he was supportive of gay marriage Paul responded “I am supportive of all voluntary associations and people can call it whatever they want.”[

70. In 2005, Paul introduced the We the People Act, which would have removed from the jurisdiction of federal courts “any claim based upon the right of privacy, including any such claim related to any issue of sexual practices, orientation, or reproduction” and “any claim based upon equal protection of the laws to the extent such claim is based upon the right to marry without regard to sex or sexual orientation.”

71. Paul supports stem-cell research generically, as evidenced by his authoring the Cures Can Be Found Act of 2007 and believes the debate over the embryonic category of stem-cell research is another divisive issue over which the federal government has no jurisdiction.

72. Paul has asserted that he does not think there should be any federal control over education and education should be handled at a local and state level. He opposes the federal No Child Left Behind Act, voting against it in 2001 and remaining opposed to it as an ineffective federal program.

73. Paul has proposed the use of education tax credits, included in his bill the Family Education Freedom Act, which provides a $3,000 tax credit to families to choose their own schools. He has also introduced the Education Improvement Tax Cut Act, which would provide for a tax credit for up to a $3,000 donation to the public or private school of the taxpayer’s choice, which would provide accountability and more money to America’s schools from a local level. Paul has also proposed tax credits of $5,000 per year for each family, which could be used for any school-related expenses, whether the children of the family attend public or private school or are home-schooled.

74. As a free-market environmentalist, Paul sees polluters as aggressors who should not be granted immunity or otherwise insulated from accountability. Paul argues that enforcing private property rights through tort law would hold people and corporations accountable, and would increase the cost of polluting activities – thus decreasing pollution. He claims that environmental protection has failed due to lack of respect for private property.

75. He believes that environmental legislation, such as emissions standards, should be handled between and among the states or regions concerned.

76. He has voted against federal subsidies for the oil and gas industry, saying that without government subsidies to the oil and gas industries, alternative fuels would be more competitive with oil and gas and would come to market on a competitive basis sooner. He has alos opposed to federal subsidies that favor certain technologies over others, such as ethanol from corn rather than sugarcane, and believes the market should decide which technologies are best and which will succeed in the end.

77. He sponsored an amendment to repeal the federal gas tax for consumers.

78. He believes that nuclear power is a clean and efficient potential alternative that could be used to power electric cars.

79. He believes that states should be able to decide whether to allow production of hemp, which can be used in producing sustainable biofuels, and has introduced bills into Congress to allow states to decide this issue; North Dakota, particularly, has built an ethanol plant with the ability to process hemp as biofuel and its farmers have been lobbying for the right to grow hemp for years.

80. Paul has called for passage of tax relief bills to reduce health care costs for families: He would support a tax credit for senior citizens who need to pay for costly prescription drugs. He would also allow them to import drugs from other countries at lower prices. He has called for health savings accounts that allow for tax-free savings to be used to pay for prescriptions.

81. Paul voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which would allow the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to get the best price for drugs provided in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.

82. Paul rejects universal health care, believing that the more government interferes in medicine, the higher prices rise and the less efficient care becomes. He supports the U.S. converting to a free market health care system, saying that the present system is akin to a “corporatist-fascist” system which keeps prices high

83. He opposes socialized health care promoted by Democrats as being harmful because they lead to bigger and less efficient government.

84. He opposes government regulation of vitamins and minerals.

85. Paul favors the use of marijuana as a medical option. He was cosponsor of H.R. 2592, the States’ Rights to Medical Marijuana Act. He opposes federal legislation regarding marijuana.

86. Paul has joined prominent liberal Democrats in urging that states be allowed to permit farmers to grow industrial hemp, which currently is defined as a controlled substance. He contends that this would help North Dakota and other agriculture states, where farmers have requested the ability to farm hemp for years.

87. Paul contends that prohibition of drugs is ineffective and advocates ending the War on Drugs “Prohibition doesn’t work. Prohibition causes crime.” He believes that drug abuse should be treated as a medical problem, “We treat alcoholism now as a medical problem and I, as a physician, think we should treat drug addiction as a medical problem and not as a crime.”. He believes the war on drugs is a racist policy against African Americans, who are affected disproportionally. Paul believes in personal responsibility, but also sees inequity in the current application of drug enforcement laws, noting in 2000, “Many prisoners are non-violent and should be treated as patients with addictions, not as criminals. Irrational mandatory minimal sentences have caused a great deal of harm. We have non-violent drug offenders doing life sentences, and there is no room to incarcerate the rapists and murderers.”

88. Paul has been a proponent of ballot access law reform, and has spoken out on numerous election law reform issues.

89. In 2003, he introduced the Voter Freedom Act of 2003, that would have created uniform ballot access laws for independent and third political party candidates in Congressional elections. He supported this bill in a speech before Congress in 2004. In 2007 he reintroduced a similar version of the bill.

90. Paul would like to restore State representation in Congress and calls for a repeal of the seventeenth amendment, which replaced state election of U.S. Senators with popular election. Paul believes that increased representation of state interests at the federal level encourages greater sharing of power between state and federal government, and that greater state participation serves as a check against a powerful federal government.

91. He believes that rights belong to individuals, not groups.

92. He believes that property should be owned by people, not government.

93. He believes that all voluntary associations should be permissible — economic and social.

94. He believes that the government’s monetary role is to maintain the integrity of the monetary unit, not participate in fraud.

95. He believes that government exists to protect liberty, not to redistribute wealth or to grant special privileges.

96. He believes that the lives and actions of people are their own responsibility, not that of the government.

97. He wants to balance the budget by reducing spending.

98. He wants to change the U.S foreign policy to that of non intervention.

99. HE wants full audit and more supervision of the Federal Reserve leading to abolishing the Federal Reserve.

100. He wants American citizens to wean themselves off the dependence of wealth transfers by government.

101. He wants to eliminate the income tax, inheritance tax and taxes on savings and dividends.